Our subject for this morning
is, what does it take to be a disciple? What does it take, what does
it cost, what is required of me to be his disciples. I want to know the answer to
that question, don't you? John chapter 6, verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples Went back. And walked. No more. With him. This is the third time
these people are called his disciples, we read in verse 60, many, therefore,
of his disciples. When they heard this said, this
is a hard saying, who can hear it? When Jesus knew it himself
that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this
offend you? And then we read from that time
after what he said, many of his disciples went back and they
walked no more with him. Now, I suppose the first question
we need to ask is what is a disciple? What's the word mean? A disciple
is an adherent. It is more than a student or
a learner. It's an adherent. It's one who
imitates. The teacher. One who imitates. The master. Our Lord said in
John chapter 8 verse 31, if you continue. In my word. Then. Are you my disciples? Indeed, now that statement our
Lord makes tells us that there is such a thing as being a disciple
in word only. And not indeed, he said, if you
continue in my word, then are you my disciples. Indeed, and
that is precisely what we have here, someone who's not a disciple.
Indeed, this message our Lord preached made these people decide
to no longer be his disciples. They said, we can't go this far. This is too radical. This is
asking too much out of us. They went back and walked no
more with him. That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? They went back. These are people who said they
were his disciples, and yet they went back and they walked no
more with him. You see, being a true disciple
is much more than having the name of a disciple, isn't it?
Look in John 13. Verse 35. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples if you have love one to another. Now there's the proof of discipleship.
Not you saying you're a disciple, but there's something in you
that someone can see your love to God's people. Your loyalty
to God's people. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples. By your love unto another. Look
in John 15, verse 8. Herein is my Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. Speaking of the fruit of God,
the Holy Spirit. So shall ye be my disciples. It is only that one who bears
fruit that is a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
the Lord looked at the twelve as he watched this multitude
leaving him. And he said to them back in our
text in John, chapter six. From that time, verse 66, many
of his disciples went back. They walked no more with him.
He said, we just can't take it this far. Then said Jesus unto
the twelve, Will you also go away? Do you also wish to leave? Now, the word. Go away means
to leave without noise or notice. He says, now here's your opportunity.
If you want to, if you wish, you can leave without noise or
notice. Nobody's even going to notice
what you're doing. It's not going to cause a splash. Will you also
go away? Now, the point I want to make
is you must want to be a disciple to be one. Isn't that right?
You must want to be a disciple. You must desire to be a disciple,
to be one. He said, will you also go away?
No, they didn't want to. They said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? And I love what they say here.
They didn't say, well, where would we go? They say, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, as we believe for sure that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. I think of the question that
the blind man who had his sight restored to him by the Lord said
to the Pharisees who were against him, he asked him this question,
he said, Will you also be his disciple? Do you wish to be his disciple?
Do you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Do you want
to be a follower And adherent. Of Jesus Christ, do you want
to be a real believer? Do you want to be a real Christian?
What do you say? Will you also be his disciple? Now, if you go into a store.
And see something that you think you want, perhaps an article
of clothing or something of that nature, and the salesperson said,
do you like this? Well, yes, I do. Yes, I do. Do you want it to be yours? Well,
it depends. How much does it cost? Whether you really want it will
be determined by how much it costs. If you are willing to
pay that price. What does it cost to be a disciple
of Jesus Christ? And yes, salvation is free. It's
by grace. What does what do you have to
pay to be saved? Not a thing. What does God require
of you? Nothing from you. But believe me, all of you. All
of you. I turn with me to Luke, Chapter
14. Luke, Chapter 14, and this is that
passage of scripture where our Lord Exhorted some people to
count the cost. And look what he says in verse
28 of Luke, chapter 14. For which of you. Intending to
build a tower. And that's a costly enterprise,
isn't it? He's not talking about just putting
something up hastily. He's talking about a big construction
project, building a tower. I mean, that was the biggest
thing they had back then. I guess you could think of it
as a skyscraper or something like that. I mean, something
really big, something very costly. He says, which of you, intending
to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost,
whether he hath sufficient to finish it? You don't just start
something like that without first counting the cost. You'd never
do that in real life. Less happily after he that has
raised the foundation is not able to finish it. All behold,
it began to mock and say this man began to build, but he wasn't
able to finish. Or what king going to make war
against another king? Now you want to talk about a
costly enterprise war. What a sad thing war is. How
many billions of dollars had been spent in the last three
or four years on war. What a costly, costly, how many,
how many lives have been sacrificed? I mean, we know that there's
nothing, humanly speaking, that we can talk about more costly
than war, the loss of lives, the Now he says, what king going
to make war against another king sitteth not down first and consulteth
whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against
him with 20,000? He's going to try to figure out whether he
can win this war. Or else, while the other is yet a great way
off, he sendeth an ambassadge and desires conditions of peace. Now, is this a battle you can
win? If not, you better send an ambassador with conditions
of peace in this battle that every natural man has with the
Lord. Is this a battle you can win?
If not. You better send an ambassador
with conditions of peace. Now, what led the Lord to speak
of counting the cost, we'll look back in verse twenty five of
this passage of Scripture. Luke 14, verse 25. And there went great multitudes
with him. The Lord had a crowd at this
time. He had a big crowd. Finally seemed to be getting
somewhere. A lot of disciples. And there were great multitudes
with him. And he turned and said unto them, If any man come to
me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple. And this is one of three times
in this passage of scripture where the Lord says he cannot
be my disciple unless these conditions are met. Look in verse 27. Whosoever
doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Notice he doesn't say he won't
make a very good one. He says he can't be my disciple. Look in verse 33 of Luke chapter
14. So likewise, whosoever he be
of you that forsaketh not all that he hath. He what? He cannot. Be my disciple. Now, here he gives us the cost
of discipleship. He tells us what it will cost
us to be his disciple. Now, do you want to be? Do I
want to be his disciple? Well, before we answer that question,
I dare say probably everybody on the surface would say, yes,
I want to be his disciple. I bet every one of us would say
that. I bet there's not one person in here who'd say, no, I'm not
interested in this. No, you wouldn't be if you weren't interested
in this. But before you answer that question, whether or not
you personally want to be his disciple, let's see what it actually
costs. Because the Lord tells us in
this passage of scripture what it will cost us to be his Now
in verse 26, once again, the Lord tells us, if any man come
to me, and here's the first cost of discipleship, if any man come
to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children
and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple. Now what do you think about what
the Lord says? That's a very strong statement, isn't it? He tells
me I am to hate my mom and dad, and I'm to hate my wife and children,
and I'm to hate my brothers and sisters, and I'm to hate myself
if I'm to follow Him. Now what in the world does that
mean? Now you know as well as I do that our Lord is not telling
us to positively hate these people. You know, if I hate my mom and
dad, that's a breach of the fifth commandment. Honor thy father
and mother. He's not telling us to positively
hate these people. He's not telling me to hate my
wife and my children. And he's not telling me to have
a destructive attitude toward myself and hate myself. You know,
the way people hate myself and they'll even hurt themselves
and so on. You know he's not saying that at all. Well, what
does he mean? Well, he is speaking of giving
preference to one thing over another in this sense. If that person comes between
obedience to Jesus Christ, you leave that person. You disregard
that person. You absolutely disregard them. Doesn't matter whether your mom
or your dad or your wife or your husband or your kids or even
your own life. If that individual would have
you disobey the master. You are to treat that person
with disregard. Now. My children are precious,
my child is precious, but they or she is not even to be compared
with the preciousness of Christ. The same is true of our brothers
and sisters. I'm to be loyal to Christ over every relationship. I'm even called upon to treat
my own life this way. Now, listen to me. If it costs
me everything. Including my life to follow Christ
and to be faithful and obedient to him, the cost is not too great. You believe that? Turn with me for a moment to
John 12, hold your finger there and look 14. Verse 25. He that loveth his life. He's
going to preserve his life. He's going to go for the gusto. Just avoid anything that interferes
with this life. He that loveth this life shall
what? Lose it. And that's the words
of our Lord. He'll lose it. And he that hateth
his life in this world shall keep it. to life eternal. You know, it always troubles
me when somebody who professes to believe the gospel, and I've
seen this so often, they profess to believe the gospel, but maybe
some relative they have doesn't believe the gospel, but they're
still saved. They're still saved. I mean,
they're my relative. I mean, I know they believe a different gospel,
but they're still saved. You would prefer their salvation
over the expense of the truth. Now, that's loving mother or
father or children or brethren or sisters. More than Jesus Christ,
that's exactly what that is. Nothing less than that, not to
follow Christ, so much as to follow Christ would cost me my
job, my family, my friends, for me to confess the gospel of Christ
as the only gospel and renounce all other religions, I'd be disowned. Well, so be it. So that's what
he said. Verse 26, let's read it again.
If any man come to me, that's what you're going to do. Remember,
the multitude were falling. He said, if any man come to me
and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren
and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. So there's the first cost. There's
the first cost. Here's the second look in verse
27. And whosoever does not bear his
cross and come after me, he cannot be my disciple. Here's the next requirement for
discipleship. You've got to bear your cross.
And he says, if you don't bear your cross. You cannot. He doesn't say you won't be a
good disciple or you'll be a carnal Christian. He doesn't say anything
like that. He says you cannot be my disciple if you don't bear
your cross. Now, what in the world is this
cross bearing all about? A lot of folks when they think
of cross-bearing, they think, well, this is the cross I've
got to bear in some affliction in their life or some trial or
something that causes them a lot of pain and heartache. You know, this is my cross. I've
got to deal with this. Maybe a sickness, maybe some
spoiled relationship. What a cross. That's my cross.
Now, that's a burden. I wouldn't take away from the
burden of that, but that's not what the Lord's talking about
when he talks about bearing a cross. That's laid on you anyway. You
don't bear that, do you? You don't pick it up and carry
it, do you? That's something that's laid on you. What you pick up and carry is
your confession of Christ in this world and the persecution
that will come because of the cross and the message of the
cross. And that's what he's talking
about. Whosoever does not bear his cross, the cross that comes
from confessing Now, the Bible points this out
so clearly, but let me read you scripture. Hold your finger there
in Luke 14. Turn to Galatians 5. Verse 11. If I yet preach circumcision,
salvation by work, salvation by doing, salvation by law, salvation
by something you do, salvation conditioned upon my doing something. If that's what I preach, why
do I yet suffer persecution? You see, nobody's going to be
persecuted over a message of salvation by works. They're not
going to do it. And look what he says next. Then is the offense
of the cross ceased. Now, the offense of the cross
is the gospel message. And it's offensive to the natural
man. Men do not love the message of the cross. The natural man
is not going to love the message of the cross. And you think about
how this message is offensive. I mean, it's offensive in so
many ways. And while I... I don't want to offend somebody
by mistreating them. I'm sure I have. I don't want
to offend somebody by my personality, although no doubt I have. I don't
want to offend somebody by, you don't want to say it, I guess.
I don't want to offend somebody by the way I treat them. I want
to treat everybody good and kind and all that kind of stuff. I
really do. I really do. But I tell you what,
if there's no offense in my message, if nobody's offended by it, I
haven't preached the gospel. The offense of the cross, now
you think of how the message of the cross, and this is what
he's talking about when he talks about picking up this cross and following
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's something you, it's not
something that's laid on you. You pick it up, you bear it willingly
and you count it an honor to carry his cross in this sense.
The offense of the cross is what he's referring to. Now the message
of the cross is an offensive message to the natural man. It
addresses all men as nothing but sinners. Now, here's what
the cross says about me and you. The cross says that left to myself,
I am so given over to evil that I will murder God if it's in
my power. That's what the cross says. Do
you believe that about yourself? The cross Men's sense of personal
rights. Everybody's so concerned about
us getting our rights. I want my rights. I want my rights. I want what's coming to me. You
know what the cross says? The cross says that you and I
don't have any rights. That we lost them all by our
sin and that we're in the hands of the sovereign God and He can
do with us whatever He's pleased to do. In this thing of salvation,
we have no control. There's nothing I can do that
will obligate God to save me. I'm totally in His hands. Christ
Jesus saved everybody He was dying for. And there's nothing
I can do to make myself saved. I'm totally dependent upon Him.
It's only when you see that that's a cry for mercy. When you see
it, it's out of your hands. When it's out of your control,
that's when you say, Lord, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. The cross offends men since the
person writes. You don't have any. You're in the hands of the
sovereign God. The cross offends men's pride
because it declares a message of salvation by the grace of
God alone. Nothing you can be proud about
in this thing of salvation. It's all His work. The cross
offends men's love of self because it calls upon men to deny themselves,
to take up their cross and to follow Him. Now, if all the world
hates you and you're made to walk with
Christ alone, Is it worth the cost? If you lose every friend you've
got. Is it worth the cost? And this also refers, this thing
of bearing this cross, it also refers to this daily crucifying
of the flesh, denying self, taking up our cross and following him.
Crucify the flesh, Paul said, with its affections and lust.
You see, the cross is a thing of death, isn't it? And I'm carrying
the bat with me in this body of death. I'm dragging it around
with me. And it's going to always be trying to pull me down. That's
my old nature, my sinful nature. That's what every believer has
to grapple with and struggle with and all the discomfort that's
associated with that. But what am I called to do? Crucify. Stab it, put it to death, and
drive the nail in it. And you know something you've
got to do every single day? We're to crucify the flesh daily. Every
single day. I crucified it yesterday, but
it's reared up its ugly head today, and I've got to deal with
it today, too. Crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Now, that's what it is to follow Christ. It's to take up your
cross and come after Him to be His disciple. Look down in verse
33. of Luke 14. So likewise, whosoever
he be of you that forsaketh not, all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Now, the word forsake is bid
farewell, renounce and send away all that's mine. You know that
man who was searching for goodly pearls. Do you remember how he
found the one pearl of great price? And what did he do when
he found that one pearl of great price? He went and he sold all
that he had. And he didn't look at it as a
loss either. He didn't look at it as a sacrifice because he
saw the excellency of that one pearl of great price. All I have is His. It's not hard to say that. I
really believe it. I renounce all my natural religion that's
contrary to His gospel. I renounce the world. And I am
a follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ. And if I don't do this,
I cannot be His disciple. To be a disciple in name only,
but not in deed, is to be like the salt who has lost its flavor.
Look in verse 34. Salt is good, and it is good.
I'm thankful for salt, aren't you? It makes food taste a lot
better. I love salt. But if the salt had lost its
savor, what is salt without softness? It's not good, is it? I mean,
what would you do with it? He says, wherefore shall it be seasoned?
It's neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill, but
mean cast it out. Now, he's going to have ears
to hear. Let him hear. The disciple who's a disciple
in word only, but in not indeed is no different than salt that
doesn't have any saltiness. It's worthless and it's to be
cast out. Now, I want us to look. In the
Bible and a man who did count the cost, would you turn with
me to Philippians chapter three for a moment? Here's an example of a man who
did count the cost. Verse seven. This is Paul, the
apostle. And he says, what things were
gained to me? I looked at him as positive.
I looked at him as plus, as advantageous to me. What things that were
gain to me, I have counted them. Now here he counted it out. He
said, I've counted it loss for Christ. Now look back in verse
four. He says, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinks that
he might trust in the flesh, I got more reason than he does.
That he wasn't speaking in pride, he's just stating the facts.
He said, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel.
Of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the
law, I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted
the church. I believed what I believed so
strongly I was going to persecute anybody that didn't believe what
I did. Touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless. Now, who can make a claim like
that? He, outwardly anyway, he could say, I kept the Ten Commandments.
And he believed he did outwardly. But what things were gained to
me, I used to think these things were to my advantage. Those I
counted loss. I count garbage for Christ. Yea,
doubtless. And I count all things, all these
good things I've been talking about. I count all things but
loss. for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things, just like the Lord said I'd have to do, but I do count
them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not
having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith." He lost his self-righteousness. And he
gained true righteousness. He lost his religious bondage. And he gained true freedom. He
lost a false peace. And he gained true peace, he
lost pretended glory and he gained true glory. Now count the cost. To be a follower of Christ will
cost you everything. Is it worth the cost? True story. This happened over
100 years ago. There was a young man who felt
led of God to be a missionary. To leave all that he held dear,
his family, his friends, his country, and go to a foreign
land and preach the gospel. And his family objected to it
strenuously. We don't want you to do this.
But he would not be taken off track from what he believed God
had called him to do. And so he did all the preparations
that were necessary for him to be a missionary. And when he
finally got to the mission field. As soon as he got there. He caught
the disease native to that foreign land. and died three weeks after
he got there. Wasted life. His parents, his father. Went. To get his body and bring it
back home. And he was looking through his
things. And he opened up his Bible And in the back of the
Bible, this young man had this written. No reserves. No retreat. And no regrets. I believe that is a summary of
what true discipleship really is. No reserve. No retreat. And no regrets. No reserves. I have no plan B. I have no reserve
clause. If this doesn't work out, I'm
going to go that direction. I have no ace in the hole. If who Christ is. And what he
did alone. is not enough to save me, then
I will be damned. I'm sure of it. I don't have
a plan B. I don't have any other hope.
I'm laying it all out right there. No reserve account. If who Jesus
Christ is and what He did on Calvary's tree is not enough
to make me perfect before God, I've got no hope. No reserves. I'm called upon
to preach the Word. Whatever God's Word declares,
I preach it, regardless of what it costs, regardless of whether
anybody believes it or rejoices in it or not. No reserves. No plan B. In following Christ,
no reserves. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul. My life, my all. Worship is not
something I'm just trying to fit in, trying to make room in
my heart for. The worship of God is everything. Following
Christ is everything. There is no reserve. There's
no retreat. I put my hand to the plow and
by his grace, I'm not looking back. No retreat. That's not even an option. You know, when some of the settlers
came to the New World, the leader, I don't remember who it was,
he burned the ships. No going back. The ships are
burned. You're here for good. There is
no retreat. And there's no regrets. You know,
think about this. Nobody on their deathbed will
regret following Christ too closely. You think of all the regrets
you may have on your death bed, but I'll tell you what, nobody's
going to regret trusting Christ too completely. Nobody's going
to regret being too fanatical about Him. That's something you
will not regret. Now, Christ and His gospel, if true, is of infinite importance. If false is of no importance at all. The one thing Christ in his gospel
cannot be is moderately important. He's either all Or he's nothing. But he's not in between. There's
no middle ground. None at all. How many people
make themselves miserable trying to give Christ their first priority? And they just haven't seen that
He is the only priority. He doesn't come first in a long
line of other things. He is All. Now, our Lord. Looked at these people leaving
him back in John, Chapter six, and then he looked at the 12.
And he said, will you also go away? And I love Peter's answer. To whom shall we go? Thou has
the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. And I believe
that just as much as Peter did. I really do. I believe and I'm
sure that He is God's Christ, the Son of the living God. And
I say this, I realize about myself, I know this enough about myself,
I really believe this, that apart from God's grace, I, like Peter, will deny I even
know Him in front of anybody, and maybe even do it with cursing
and swearing, just like Peter did. I know, apart from God's
grace, I did that. I realize that. But I also mean this. If it took
me walking through hell itself to follow Jesus Christ, by His grace, I'd do it. He is so altogether glorious
and altogether lovely. He's the chief of ten thousand,
the fairest of ten thousand. I really believe that. Will you
be His disciple? Is any cost too great? No. No cost is too great. Yes, I
will be by His grace. Knowing if He left me alone,
I'd end up being a Judas. But will you be His disciple?
Will you also go away? No, not me. Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. Let's pray together. Lord, I ask in the high and holy
name of Jesus Christ, Thy blessed Son, that you will give each person
in this room the grace to hate all things in comparison
to thee, to give us grace to take up this confession of thy
dear son in this world that has no love for him. Lord, give us grace to forsake
all. in order to follow Him. In Christ's
name we pray, Amen.